The Split Personalities of Data Scientists: Survey Results and Insights

Who are Data Scientists and what is the distribution of their skills in the community? What skills do organizations say they want but actually need?

For our August event, Harlan Harris, Marck Vaisman, and Sean Murphy will be presenting results from a survey of Data Scientists that addresses these questions and explores the disconnect between reality and recruitment. They will highlight unique combinations of skills and suggest ways that Data Scientists can market themselves and get ahead.

6:30pm -- Networking and Refreshments

7:00pm -- Introduction

7:10pm -- Harlan, Marck and Sean's presentation and Q&A

around 8:30pm -- Adjourn for Data Drinks

Bios

Harlan Harris has a PhD in Machine Learning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is Senior Data Scientist at Kaplan Test Prep.

Marck Vaisman has an MBA from Vanderbilt and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, and is Principal Data Scientist at DataXtract, working with a broad range of clients.

Sean Murphy has an MBA from Oxford and a MS in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins, and has worked as a Data Scientist at Hopkins and at several startups.

Harlan and Marck co-organize the Data Science DC and R Users DC Meetups, and Sean will soon be launching a new Data Business DC Meetup. All three are on the Board of the forthcoming Data Community DC, Inc.

Very interesting presentations from Marck, Harlan and Sean. Appreciated the visualization of the results and insights. Enjoyed the group feedback on how depth vs breadth of skills are perceived individually.
Peter and I are from Statistics.com. We offer online courses (100+) that cover data mining, predictive modeling, bayesian statistics, R programming, statistical modeling, visualization, statistical modeling, optimization, risk analysis. If you'd like to increase your breadth (or depth) we'd love to see you online. To take advantage of the reduced rate, please choose academic pricing and type "DSDC Meetup" in the academic affiliation block.

The survey research was very useful - the skill groupings helped me realize how much (and what kind of) hype there is around data science. This will help me figure out my educational/experience next steps.

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Data Science DC is a non-profit professional group that meets monthly to discuss diverse topics in predictive analytics, applied machine learning, statistical modeling, open data, and data visualization. Our members are professionals, students, and others with a deep interest in these fields and related technologies. Meeting topics are varied and range from tutorials on basic concepts and their applications, to success stories from local practitioners, to discussions of tools, new technologies, and best practices. All are welcome -- to attend, to meet others, and to present their work!

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